A documentary about a musical starring teen actors with disabilities is changing hearts, teaching power of inclusion
By Kayla Heffner for Ashland.news
Audiences at the premiere of the documentary “Including Us” during the Ashland Independent Film Festival 2024 were clearly moved by the film, with some tears shed to the accompaniment of applause and a standing ovation on Oct. 5.
In 2019 the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) staged the musical “Hairspray” featuring actors with disabilities alongside people of color. Although their struggles of being considered minorities differ, their story of integration and fight for acceptance in society is a common thread between both groups.
The passion project of making the OSF musical production into a documentary began after a teen actor’s mom, Jane Hogan, and the director for “Hairspray,” Chris Moore, met for tea. Soon, the question wasn’t whether but how Luke Hogan Laurenson and some of his friends could be a part of the musical.
Five years later, the documentary directed by Brandon Givens made its debut to a packed house filled with family, friends, and curious indie film moviegoers.
Part of the cast, director, and editor for the film were present on stage for a Q&A discussion following the screening Saturday night, Oct. 5, at the Southern Oregon University (SOU) Music Recital Hall.
“The film focuses on the four disabled teens cast in the show … Luke, Ori, Walker, and Zahra, but we also hear from longtime professional actor Jenna Bainbridge, who is an ambulatory wheelchair user and disability rights advocate,” Givens said. Bainbridge performed the role of Penny Pingleton in the show.
This is the first time some of the parents got to see their children with disabilities be recognized and seen for something outside of their disabilities.
“It just elevated their own self perception, it was so beautiful,” Walker’s mom, Sonia Hill, said.
Luke’s older sister, Juila, is interviewed in the documentary about how she helped start Project Up at Ashland High School (AHS). The club met at lunch every week for three years, pairing teen mentors with teen actors with disabilities. According to Jane, all four of the teen actors in the musical were a part of the group.
It was an emotional night for one of the fellow cast members, Preston Mead, who began crying on stage after reuniting with the four teen actors.
Mead starred in the musical and got to be an onstage buddy for Luke during show performances. Fighting back tears, Mead reminisced about their time together.
“It was really amazing to get to relive that,” Mead said. “I got to see little moments I had forgotten with you all, on stage and off stage. I just remember how fun and great it was to be there with you. It was a really beautiful time and it made me miss being around you all a lot.”
Luke and Ori both use wheelchairs and Mead helped them on stage. Luke uses a talk-buddy computer device to speak and said his favorite moment with Mead was when he picked him up to dance on stage for the final musical number.
Longtime OSF veteran actor Eddie Lopez, who starred as Corny Collins in the musical, moderated the Q&A discussion and opened up questions to the audience. Some of the folks sitting in the crowd shared their personal stories of knowing someone with a disability.
A mother in the audience commented, “I have a child with Down syndrome. I just want you all to know what an inspiration every single one of you are for me and my family.”
Another woman shared about working with the teens and Preston. “Eight years ago I got the pleasure to work with many of the people on this stage, including Preston, when I was working on Project UP going through my master’s program to become a special education teacher. It warms my heart to see how far they’ve come and just the love OSF and this community has to have the inclusion that they have.”
Music can be a powerful medium for communicating a message because it can translate across language barriers and make subject matters that can be difficult to talk about more palatable and easier for audiences to digest. Givens said, “I think the point Chris Moore was trying to make is, when you include the entire community in the art, it’s about us. It’s about all of us, right? It just creates more energy. I think the cast was better for it and I think obviously the people who came to see it, it was a very profound experience for them.”
Former OSF Artistic Director Bill Rauch and his husband Chris Moore live in New York and had Luke and his mom dog sit for them last summer. Rauch and Luke have a special bond because Rauch’s brother has cerebral palsy. Moore got close with Luke while working with him as the director for the “Hairspray” musical, and also worked on OSF productions with Luke’s older sister Julia.
Sometimes in a world as fast-paced as our society is, people can forget not everyone observes the world in the same way. Orianna’s dad, Beowulf Rochlen, said it’s OK to stop and take things at a gentler pace.
“Young people — and people of any age with disability — have amazing things to bring to the world and amazing things to contribute and if we slow down and take a look and see what they have to say and look at what their abilities are, then it can be just an amazing moment on all sides,” Beowulf said.
Givens, too, echoed the importance of this sentiment.
“Stopping and realizing that it’s OK to take things slowly, that people interact with the world in different ways and that’s OK, and, quite frequently, it’s a good thing to think about the world differently,” Givens said.
If this documentary has taught anything, it’s that we’re more alike than we are different when it comes to matters of the heart.
Zahra said it has been a dream of hers since she was 8 years old to act in a play or perform in a musical on stage.
“What I want people to know about the movie and play is that you can’t judge people who are different. It is more important to love them than judge them. It changed my life because I’ve dreamt about this since I was 7 years old. I told my teacher I wanted to be an actress when I grew up,” Zahra said.
The parents hope that these young adults’ stories will help inspire others, but also remind us how the power of inclusion can be a catalyst for the most positive force of good to see change happen in the world.
Jane said she went to as many performances of the musical as possible because it was cathartic, therapeutic and healing every time she got to see her son and the other kids on stage.
Now, people recognize Luke or Walker in public and give them hugs or talk about seeing them in the musical. Before, people would ignore them, be afraid, or not even acknowledge them.
“Being on screen creates a little bit more permanence, people who get to see the film get exposure to that concept of inclusion and the impact and benefit of it,” Sonia said.
There aren’t many spaces or theater companies as inclusive as OSF. “Correct, I think it was looking at those teens as individuals just as humans rather than a token disability,” Sonia said.
“They were representing our part of our communities, part of our society, part of our schools, that those individuals and our family members with disabilities can be seen as just someone you approach and talk to,” Sonia said.
The film also shares where these young actors are five years later, highlighting how their lives were changed by their experience.
Since the documentary, Gerald, Walker’s dad, said being in “Hairspray” has built a lot of confidence in his son. “A couple years later he was bowling for the Special Olympics and did an outstanding job and he did really well. Sonia and I both watched him bowl everyday, we were so proud of him and I think he was proud of himself too, he had a lot of confidence in himself,” Gerald said.
Walker’s parents said Walker wants to work at OSF as an usher, working in lighting or set building. Walker, competing in bowling, won a bronze medal in the Special Olympics for the USA.
Luke graduated as a co-valedictorian at AHS and is now a motivational speaker touring schools and has aspirations of acting on Broadway in New York.
Zahra wants to pursue acting or be an artist and Ori has dreams of performing in more musicals with her friends.
“’Hairspray’ is a popular movie about how it’s not up to people to think of others with special needs or having different skin, it’s more about how people should learn to accept other people who are different or who are differently abled,” Zahra said.
Oscar Wilde is famously quoted for writing the line “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” In this instance, the art is a symbiosis of both — told through theater, dance, and music, on and off stage. This documentary is a brush stroke of genius.
“Including Us” will be shown for free in its entirety on local Public Broadcasting Station (PBS) channels sometime in 2025. Givens said he’s still working out distribution for the film and has submitted the documentary to several other film festivals for consideration.
Journalist Kayla Heffner lives in Ashland. Email her at [email protected].
Related stories:
Living his dream: Empowering students to be kind, inclusive and to aim high (April 6, 2024)
‘Long live’ Luke: Inspiring others, living his dream (June 11, 2023)
Ashland High ‘steps into compassion,’ takes ‘Sparrow’ Luke under their wing (Nov. 21, 2022)
